Since the first chamber was empty, no one got a new hole.

For now.

“Nathaniel! Oh, hello!” Velvet opened the cylinder, putting the empty chamber back as number one, afraid of another misfire.

“Right, hello. Can we talk?”

No! Velvet’s inner voice screamed.

But refusing him outright would be kinda suspicious. Luckily, Velvet had a plan.

“R-right now? You see, I am with someone…” She tried to sound shy, then, in whispers, she playfully added “Eeek! Stooop a moment!”

It was a good thing she communicated with demons telepathically. If not, maybe Nathaniel would have thought she was with an old man and his son. The most he could have heard was Velvet moving around the room.

“Velvet… I know you are alone…” He said almost with pity.

She stopped caressing her own body and wiggling like an idiot.

Well, I have Iren’s body with me, so he’s with me in spirit!

“I need to talk to someone.”

She sighed, grabbing a few charms and opening the door. “Come, sit on the bed.”

Nathaniel thanked her, entering and going to sit.

The next thing he saw was Velvet pushing herself on top of him, pressing something against his nose with her hand, her smile gone. Before realizing anything, he blacked out.

…

Nathaniel opened his eyes a bit. His mind still foggy, he tried to get up, but found it impossible.

Realizing his hands and feet were tied to the posts of the bed, he opened his eyes in surprise, preparing himself for shouting for help.

“Scream and I’ll shoot you.” A voice that he realized pertained to Velvet, welcomed him. She was standing against the door, pointing at him with a revolver.

Velvet didn’t bother to gag him, having put sound insulation charms in the room. Yes, that was one of the two spells Baraviodos showed her. She took some time to make some extra.

She also took off his gloves, not finding any eye. Even Hyde and Iren’s familiar agreed he was a normal human.

Nathaniel closed his mouth for a few seconds, staring at her in silence.

“You don’t have to do this Velvet… I get that you’re needy, but we can talk this ou-”

“What?! I’m not needy!” He saw Velvet tensing up, an angry smile in her face, “I’m trying to not be killed!”

“By tying me up to the bed?” Nathaniel had realized Velvet was the kind to smile when bothered and smile when happy. She just had different kinds of smiles. This one right now was the bothered kind.

“You killed Iren Doyle.” She didn’t bother to play him to make him slowly confess. She was a mage, not a detective.

“I didn't- How do you know?” Under the pillow, Velvet had put Iren’s notebook, with the lust demon inside, so that Nathaniel confessed more easily.

“The rich guy you screamed at. He’s a mage.” Velvet didn’t know if Nathaniel knew she was a mage, since she didn’t use magic in front of him. So, being a petty person, she did the best thing she could. Snitching on others.

And, about knocking him out, well, any girl could be carrying sleeping drugs in this day and age! Magic had nothing to do with it! He probably didn’t even know the difference!

Maybe he had a way to sense magicians, but, as long as nothing was confirmed, she would try to put Nathaniel against Cornelius.

She would love to also put him against Siberina, but Nathaniel didn’t know her.

“He saw me talking with you,” Velvet lied. “And told me that you were the killer. With enough proof.”

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“I didn’t kill him.” He repeated, “I-I don’t remember killing him. I just remember being in his bathroom, cleaning my hands from blood.”

That would be when he puked in the toilet.

“What is the last thing you remember before that?”

“I…” He seemed lost in thought, trying to remember “Nothing… I was with Niko in our room, and then… Nothing.”

“What about the weapon?”

“I-It was a knife, I don’t know how I got it!”

“Where did you put it?”

“I… threw it from the train. It’s lost in the forest.”

So you want me to trust you without checking if the weapon caused madness? Not convinced, Velvet kept silent.

“I don’t know why this is happening… I… Please Mirel protect us.” Saying this, he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and staying still.

Did he fall asleep? In MY bed? Holding the revolver close, she lifted her foot and poked him on the waist. No reaction.

Velvet decided to leave him there, grab her things and stay for a while in Iren's room. No, she wasn’t going to untie him, no way. And neither was she going to kill him, not before being sure he wasn’t being mind controlled!

And, to honor the Devil’s Deal, she also grabbed Iren’s suitcase. The notebook was below her pillow, now under Nathaniel’s head.

Slowly closing in, she slid her hand between the pillow and the mattress, grabbing the slippery thing.

Velvet glared at Nathaniel for a moment. His eyes were open, and he was staring right at her in silence, expressionless.

She jumped backwards, her back hitting the door. She pulled out the revolver, pointing at him.

Nathaniel was sleeping, just like he was a minute ago.

“Hyde, Hyde, I didn’t imagine that, right? He looked at me.”

“I didn’t see anything.”

“Baraviodos, you saw it, right?”

“No. I only saw you jumping away.”

“He was awake.”

Deciding to leave the room as soon as possible, Velvet put the notebook in her pocket. “I will go and speak with Niko, maybe he knows something.” She tossed a paper figurine under the bed, to monitor Nathaniel.

Leaving carefully, she first went to leave the suitcases in Iren's room, then she went to Niko’s room.

Knocking, she was first met with silence. “Niko? Are you inside?”

She hoped nothing happened to the kid. If Nathaniel really was getting controlled…

The door opened, a head poking out. “Velvet? It’s too early…”

“What do you mean early? It’s around twelve, not early at all. How are you feeling?”

“Bored. Nath left again.”

Again?

“I have some cards, we can play Rummy.”

“What is that?”

“A card game, I can teach you how to play”

…

The room the brothers shared was bigger than Velvet’s, with two beds, one at each side, with enough space on the floor for them to play cards.

They had played several games, Velvet making sure to lose every now and then. Now, having lost again, she used the thrill of victory that Niko was feeling to ask. “Soo… Why did Nathaniel left?”

“I don’t know, he didn't say anything. Adults things, I suppose. Maybe he’s got a girlfriend.”

A sharp and pointy girlfriend. Could kill a man. Killed a man, actually. Velvet mocked.

“You said again. Does he leave you alone often?”

“No… he worries too much! But yesterday night, he left after I went to sleep. But I wasn’t really sleeping, just pretending!”

“When did he come back?”

“No idea.” Niko shrugged. “I ended up falling asleep for real. He was the one to pull me out of bed this morning. And he left again a few hours ago. Do you know where he is?”

Tied up to my bed. “Nope.”

“Maybe he really has gotten a girlfriend!”

“On a train? That’s more a fling than a romance.”

“What’s a fling?”

Velvet blinked a few times, biting her tongue. “A reeeally short and funny adventure adults have sometimes between them.”

“Just call it an adventure then.”

“But they are different.”

“In what?”

“Ehh… Well, for starters, I don’t think he’s having a fling. He looks like the type to wait for marri- to take it slow and know the person beforehand.”

“He can be knowing her right now.” Determined to prove his theories, Niko had decided to fight to the death for them.

Even when Velvet didn’t want to go into that conversation.

“Hyde, help me.”

“You got yourself into this mess. You get yourself out.”

“Baraviodos. We have a deal.”

“You want to use a lust demon on a child?”

“No!” Velvet screamed in her mind. “Ah, I’ll figure out something. On my own.”